The Old University of Leuven is the name historians give to the university, or studium generale, founded in Leuven, Brabant (then part of the Burgundian Netherlands, now part of Belgium), in 1425. The university was closed in 1797, a week after the cession to the French Republic of the Austrian Netherlands and the principality of Liège (jointly the future Belgium, by and large) by the Treaty of Campo Formio.
The name was in medieval Latin In the act of approbation of Pope Martin V: . or ,In the act of approbation of Pope Martin V: . in humanistical Latin ,For example: Nicolaus Vernulaeus, , Lovanii, 1627; , Lovanii, apud Aegidium Denique, 1728. and most usually,. ,For example: Bossuet, Jacques Bénigne (1864), , Paris: F. Lachat & Louis Vivès, p. 247: ; Jan Frans Van De Velde (1829), , p. 171: . in Dutch For example: , Louvain, 1728, p. 95: ; J. B. Lameere (1829), , 1829. and also .For example: , 1762, p. 458: .
It is commonly referred to as the University of Leuven or University of Louvain, sometimes with the qualification "old" to distinguish it from the Catholic University of Leuven (established 1835 in Leuven). This might also refer to a short-lived but historically important State University of Leuven, 1817–1835.
History In the 15th century the civil administration of the town of Leuven, with the support of John IV, Duke of Brabant,Jan Roegiers et al., "The Old University 1425–1797", in Leuven University, Leuven, Leuven University Press, 1990, p. 57: "The town had promised Pope Martin V that it would provide the University with premise. ... The municipality also undertook to pay for the repair, maintenance and extension of the four paedagogies"; p. 36 "The Bull of Foundation in 1425 had made finance and appointment of professors a matter for the Civil authorities: the town gave the University its site and paid its professors"; p. 43: "On 20 June 1425 the Louvain magistrates agreed to engage the doctors, masters and other persons needed for the studium". a prince of the House of Valois, made a formal request to the Holy See for a university.Jan Roegiers et al., "The Old University 1425–1797", in Leuven University, Leuven, Leuven University Press, 1990, p. 21: "These universities (the medieval universities) were created either by sovereign princes or by towns, and were confirmed by the Pope ... The foundation of Louvain was the work of both ducal and municipal authorities. John IV, the Duke of Brabant, encouraged by two of his concillors, Engelbert van Nassau and Edmund van Dynter, strongly favoured the establishment of a higher centre of learning in his dukedom".
Pope Martin V issued a papal bull dated 9 December 1426 founding the University in Leuven as a . This university was institutionally independent of the local ecclesiastical hierarchy.
From the founding of the university to its abolition in 1797, Latin was the sole language of instruction.Jozeph IJsewijn, Companion to Neo-Latin Studies, Amsterdam, New York & Oxford, 1977, p. 102: "Latin survived as the language of the University of Louvain until the French Revolution but the abolition of this institution (1797) was a catastrophe for Latin in the Southern Netherlands".
In its early years, this university was modelled on those of Paris, Cologne and Vienna. The university flourished in the 16th century due to the presence of famous scholars and professors, such as Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens (Pope Adrian VI), Desiderius Erasmus, Johannes Molanus, Joan Lluís Vives, Andreas Vesalius and Gerardus Mercator.
In 1519, the Faculty of Theology of Leuven, jointly with that of the University of Cologne, became the first institution to condemn a number of statements drawn from Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses (preceding the papal bull by several months).Richard Marius, Martin Luther: The Christian between God and Death (1999), p. 188.
After the French Revolutionary Wars, by the Treaty of Campo Formio signed on 17 October 1797, the Austrian Netherlands were ceded in perpetuityJules Delhaize (1909), , Vol. 3, Brussels, p. 171: . to the French Republic by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, in exchange for the Republic of Venice. Once formally integrated into the French Republic, a law dating to 1793 mandating that all universities in France be closed came into effect.The law of 15 September 1793 had decreed the suppression of all the colleges and universities in France, but the universities remain de facto until the new law of 7 ventôse year III (25 February 1795) creating the Écoles centrales. In accordance with this law the University of Louvain was abolished by Decree of the Departement of the Dijle. Louis Trénard, De Douai à Lille, une université et son histoire, Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 1978, p.37 note 6. The University of Leuven was abolished by decree of the Département of the Dyle on 25 October 1797.Jan Roegiers et al., Leuven University, Leuven, Leuven University Press, 1990, p. 31: "With the Law of 3 Brumaire of Year IV, which reorganized higher education in the French Republic, there was no place for the University of Louvain, and it was abolished by Decree of the Departement of the Dijle on 25 October (1797)".
What remained of the university's movables and books were requisitioned for the in Brussels.Leuven University, p. 31: "The university colleges were closed on 9 November 1797, and all items of use, with all the books, were requisitioned for the new École Centrale, in Brussel"; Analectes pour servir à l'histoire de l'Université de Louvain, edited by P. F. X. De Ram, Leuven, 1840, library Vanlinthout en Vandenzande, vol. 3, p. 58, footnote 1: This was the immediate official and legal successor and inheritor of the old University, under the laws in force at the time. It was in turn closed down in 1802.
Cultural role and influence During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the University of Leuven was until its closure a great centre of JansenismH. Francotte, , p. 28: . in Europe. To shake off this reputation,Leuven University, Leuven University Press, p. 153: "In 1698 a clandestine group of anti-Jansenists was formed, mainly of Jesuits and regular clergy, and it denounced the University of Louvain to Rome as 'a hide-out of Jansenists the faculty of theology thrice declared its adherence to the papal condemnation of Jansenist beliefs in the papal bull (1713)Toon Quaghebeur, "The Reception of Unigenitus in the Faculty of Theology at Louvain, 1713–1719", The Catholic Historical Review 93:2 (2007), pp. 265–299. but without effect. The University of Louvain, with Baïus and Jansenius, the cradle of Jansenism and remained, during the 17th and 18th centuries until its closure, the bastionPhilippe Levillain, ed. (1984). "Innocent XII Pignatelli 1691-1700". In . Fayard. . and the hubDaniel Tollet and Pierre Chaunu, "Innocent XII Pignatelli 1691-1700" , p. 143: of Augustinian theology, vol. III, Amsterdam: J. Louis de Lorme, 1700, pp. 343–344 : . known as Jansenism, in Europe, with professors like Jansenius, Petrus Stockmans, Johannes van Neercassel, Josse Le Plat and especially the famous Van Espen and his disciple Febronius, and as Henri FrancotteHenri Francotte, professor at the University of Liège, , Brussels: Hayez, 1880, p. 28: . says: "Jansenism reigned supreme at the University of Louvain".
This fidelity to the spirit of Van Espen remained alive in the University of Louvain until its abolition in 1797, as evidenced by what Charles Lambrechts wroteCharles Lambrechts, , 1818. in 1818, former rector magnificus and successor to the chair of canon law of Van Espen : "The encroachments of the Catholic clergy and their claims were so vexatious that, at a time when their religion was dominant, no other remedy had been found for their abuse of power except the appeals in question. This is what prompted the famous Van Espen to write, at the age of eighty, his treatise , in order to put a barrier against the ever-recurring abuses of clerical jurisdictions; but this virtuous ecclesiastic, who distributed to the poor all the revenues of the chair of canon law which he occupied at the University of Louvain, was soon obliged to have recourse to appeal as an abuse for himself; still, this remedy could not save him entirely from the persecution of intolerant priests. Loaded with years, glory and infirmities, he was compelled to seek shelter in Holland from their vexations; he soon died in Amsterdam in feelings of piety and resignation, after having employed his life in defending the discipline and customs of the primitive church, of which he was the most zealous supporter".
Subsequent institutions The first attempt to found a successor university in the nineteenth-century was the secular State University of Leuven, 1817–1835, where a dozen professors of the old University taught.Arlette Graffart, , in Album Carlos Wyffels, Brussels, 1987, p. 177. Arlette Graffart says that: . This was followed by a private Catholic university,R. Mathes, , Essen, 1975. the Catholic University of Leuven, established in Leuven in 1835 (initially the Catholic University of Mechlin, 1834–1835). This institution was founded with the intention of restoring the confessionally Catholic pre-Revolutionary traditions of learning in Leuven.Note that the Court of Cassation of Belgium ruled that the two entities were legally separate. 26 November 1846: "The Catholic University of Leuven can not be regarded as continuing the old University of Leuven". , Brussels, 1855, p. 585, column 1, paragraph 2. See also: , 1861, p.166. In 1968 this split to form the two current institutions: the Dutch language Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the French language Université catholique de Louvain.
Library
From the founding of the university in 1425 up until 1636, there was no official library of the university. Very likely the students had access to manuscripts and printed books preserved in the homes of their professors or colleges.
In 1636, however, a university library was founded in the Cloth hall, previously the seat of the cloth weavers' guild, and was enlarged in 1725 in a baroque style.
This library, with its various additions, was transferred in 1797 by Charles Antoine de La Serna Santander to the Central School, the official continuation of the old university.Leuven University, p. 31: "The university colleges were closed on 9 November 1797, and all items of use, with all the books, were requisitioned for the new École Centrale, in Brussel." Wauthier, head of office of the department of Dyle and the ex-Jesuit De la Serna Santander, librarian of the Central School of Brussels, were responsible for the application of this measure. On October 26, 1797, they went with Michel-Marcel Robyns, receiver of national domains, to the municipal administration of Louvain, to notify it,Auguste Voisin, , Ghent, 1840: . while its most precious works and manuscripts were deposited in Paris among the national treasures of the National Library.
It is also very likely that on the occasion of the troubles of the wars of this time, many precious works and documents surreptitiously followed an unofficial route, sometimes with the high aim of saving them from disaster,P. F. X. De Ram, ed. (1840), , Louvain: Vanlinthout & Vandenzande, volume 3, p. 58, note 1: . sometimes with the sordid goal of profiting from it.
In 1797, much of what remained of this library was sent to the Central School of Brussels, established as the official replacement of the abolished university, although its most precious books and manuscripts were deposited in Paris at the National Library of France. The library of the Central School of Brussels came to number about 80,000 volumes, which later became part of the Library of Brussels, and then the Royal Library of Belgium.